1 - 2002

The Church and Israel

Editorial

A few days before the elections for the German Bundestag (parliament) in September 2002, Jürgen Möllemann, deputy chairman of the liberal party, the FDP, decided on his own initiative to have millions of campaign flyers distributed in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The flyer used anti-Semitic clichés, in the hope of winning over right-wing voters. But Möllemann had miscalculated. There were numerous protests. The FDP lost a great many votes, and Möllemann was relieved of his offices in the party.

The debate over Möllemann has brought up anew, among other things, the long-repressed question of the guilt borne by the church and theology for anti-Semitic thinking, with its criminal consequences up to and including the Holocaust. Of the few confessions by churches of their failure to raise a cry on behalf of the Jews (cf. Dietrich Bonhoeffer) there is no public awareness. On the other hand, Christian theology today has taken a clear stand against every form of anti-Judaism in theology and politics. Its relationship to Jewish theology is largely characterised by respect and cooperation.

The political statements made by church leadership bodies and church groups stand for two viable and secure states in Palestine and Israel. They call for solidarity on both sides, with those forces in the two countries which are working for reconciliation and human rights. They also direct attention towards the problems which the Arab and Islamic world has with the West and its Christian influence. The churches’ criticism of the Israeli army’s actions against the Palestinian people is growing stronger. But it is always linked with criticism of terrorist crimes on the Palestinian side. Like the churches, many people in Germany are observing with deep concern that the deaths and wounds inflicted are causing hatred to grow anew on both sides.